hi, PRE: this has been brought up some time ago, once by me, too, see: Bug 152189 - styles list "new", plus "DUPLICATE" wontfix (the enhancement suggestion) Still, I'll give it ago... Why? Because the reasons given by two developers were based on a "false fact" (They assumed that changing the "Inherit from" reference won't change the styles attributes accordingly, which is not how it works in reality -- the attributes will change according to the new "Inherit from" reference) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - So, you are in the styles pane... you have "my_paragraph" in the list.. (underscores are not necessary, I know) This style has several attributes, including some affecting: alignment, textflow, font and font-effects and border... for example. These are "the usual suspects" when you need to check whether 2 styles are next to identical.... Imagine that you want to have a variant of this style... a variant that's only different in one attribute... say, border color In this case I'd go: "duplicate this style"... which would make my list look like this: Body Text | | my_paragraph my_paragraph(copy) Then I could rename them to fit the style concept of the document, like: Body Text | | my_paragraph orange border my_paragraph azure border :: BUT THIS ↑↑ IS NOT POSSIBLE YET - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What you can do: create a new style based on my paragraph... the result will be like this: Body Text | | my_paragraph | | my_paragraph_B The problem will be that you have two variants but one is one level UP... ALSO... being "one level up" has a meaning, too... If you change anthing in "my_paragraph", "my_pragraph_B" will be changed too... THIS IS not how variants are supposed to work :) THis is how derivatives work. Two toally different things. But back to our case: Wouldn't it look better like this? Body Text | | my_paragraph my_paragraph_B And we could change either without getting the other modified too. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTE: the point wuld be to work with your styles in a smooth, intuitive way, if you want a variant, just create one, "copy & paste" (duplicate)... PS: We should bear in mind that changing the "inherit from" reference will change the style.
I'm not sure why to ask the same again, but I added UX team
> Imagine that you want to have a variant of this style... > a variant that's only different in one attribute... say, border color > > In this case I'd go: "duplicate this style"... If I understand correctly, and reading your other bug (bug 152189), you want to have a style which: 1. is a direct child of the same style as my_paragraph (call it parent_style) 2. has very similar modifications relative to parent_style I... have to admit that this is a legitimate desire, certainly with the way styles are right now; and you're denied this ability. Even if you start from a child of my_paragraph and move it up (e.g. by drag-and-drop) - you'll get: parent_style + (my_paragraph_copy - my_paragraph) instead of: parent_style + ((my_paragraph - parent_style) + (my_paragraph_copy - my_paragraph)) which is what you wanted. I will, however, ask you this: In your example, you listed: * my_paragraph orange border * my_paragraph azure border this is _not_ the right feature to give you that. Instead, you should use style composition: bug 149271. LO doesn't have it yet, but it could, and should. In your example, your will have three styles: 1. my_paragraph 2. orange_border 3. azure_border which are all defined as "deltas" and you will be able to apply (1.) and (2.), or (1.) and (3.), to the same paragraph at once. Would that be satisfactory, in your opinion, without the ability to duplicate styles?
We discussed the topic in the design meeting. The request was rejected in bug 152189 because Duplicate was assumed to be the same as New+Move, and the little benefit does not justify the effort to implement and the detriment for usability of an unclear function. However, duplicating a style would be different from New+Move as modifications are not hierarchically taken into the children but defined as attribute. For example, if the style Default PS > "Red" has a red font color and "Red+bold" is created as children, moving it one level above drops the color. The requested "Duplicate" feature creates a copy of the style under the same hierarchy level and makes a different workflow possible. It's relevant for PS but could also be handy for CS. And actually there is no good reason to block other style families. Since we do not want to force users into a certain workflow the feature needs to be available as ordinary command too. In this case it might work similar to "New Style from Selection" with just an option to enter the name. When started from the Stylist it should work like "New..." and show the PS properties dialog.